i have three problems, i am running a lat C600, 1GHz PIII, WinXP Pro

1) when i start up there is a clicking noise, im sure i read somewhere a while ago about this happening to someone but can't remember where, how do i fix this, i think they said it was disk thrashing

2)the battery:

i am currently running off the mains, the battery power meter is "100% (charging)" and the led's on the battery are all lit up, at the moment its not telling me how long its got left for some reason, but never mind. it should last for so many hours, however when i play video clips or any other power comsuming processes i doesn't last very long at all - i was at one point copying a 448/ 460MB file off a cd, i can't remember how far it got but maybe about 3/4 or something, and then the battery was wiped out and it went into hybernation, a friend who i don't think knows much about computers said "blast charge it" - leave it charging for ages, and then it will last for longer, but how do i know for how long, the only way is to have it up and running but then it will never go above 100% and "charging" won't change because its being used, or is it?, should i leave it on for hours until it stops saying "charging" and says something like "charged"?

how do i get it to last as long as it said what ever im doing, do i need a new battery?

for another example, i am just using the web as normal, no downloads or anything, i've unplugged the mains and its n ot giving estimated times, it started at 3:38, then when i checked about five minutes later it was at 96% with 1:90, then the next second it was 96% with 3:28, now its 93% with 3:24

3) the cursor keeps messing up, it is extremely annoying, sometimes its fine, but then at other times its not, sometimes it slowly moves towards the bottom left/ top right corners of the screen flickering but stops after a while, other times it speeds up and will only come out when i try to hold the track stick in the oposite direction straining my finger and try to use the touchpad as normal, sometimes it won't even come out of the corner for that, sometimes after it's been there for a while it will move across the screen to the other corner, sometimes it will stop after a while of being there but sometimes not.

my cousin said its caused by the oils and grease naturally found on your skin that gets into the sides of the touchpad, it used to sometimes stop after i use a cotton bud to wipe around the edges but it doesn't usually stop anymore

how can i fix this problem, what do you suggest

                                 thanks in advance for any help you can offer,

                                                                                                  Lyndon

Message Edited by TeRaBiTe on 10-21-2003 11:53 PM

Message Edited by TeRaBiTe on 10-24-2003 05:15 PM